Not What We’d Call Parkland

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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Yesterday I received a mailer from the No on Y campaign. The heading said to vote no on giving away city parkland to a developer. It also stated that the Veronica Meadows project would greatly worsen the traffic on Las Positas. Both statements are misleading and untrue.

Allowing the developer to build a bridge is not giving away land. The city will continue to own that land. Secondly, to call the property parkland is an extreme exaggeration. There is no entrance, no parking lot, no functional park. This undeveloped property is overgrown with many non-native plants and weeds. There are palm trees with dead fronds hanging down like long skirts. They are an extreme fire hazard for the entire Las Positas area. The city does not trim nor maintain them like they do the palms bordering real parks like Shoreline Park. Also, the photo on the mailer is totally misleading. It shows a very pastoral section of land, beautifully maintained. This is far from the truth. Just drive down Las Positas and see how “undeveloped” it really is.

The second exaggeration is that approving the building of the bridge will worsen the traffic on Las Positas. Without the bridge, the residents of Veronica Meadows will have to use Las Positas the entire way to Cliff Drive to access through Alan Road, thus greatly increasing congestion at the intersection of Cliff and Las Positas.

Comments

Parkland doesn't mean a developed, manicured lawn. Vast stretches of Yellowstone, Yosemite and other national, county and state parklands are overgrown ect ect. Its called natural habitat: parkland.Y is a lose /lose.

Am I the only one who's received the Y "research Survey" phone call? It's pretty obvious it's less a survey than a campaign call when they declare Dale Francisco a pro-environmental activist- even he would laugh I am sure.

"There are palm trees with dead fronds hanging down like long skirts. They are an extreme fire hazard for the entire Las Positas area ..."-- Randi Rice

That's a red herring.

As I recall, there are also large palm trees on the Alan Rd end of the property that are the responsibility of developer Mark Lee. They have huge beards too and are also fire hazards by Rice's reckoning.

We voters have seen no guarantees that Mark Lee will do anything to the palms on City property. He certainly hasn't taken care of his own.

Quite ironic here, or worse, a letter complains about exaggeration but features a few fibs itself. Traffic, for instance, will get worse because all the new residents, their pool boys, pizza deliverers, and the like still will be driving on Las Positas Road whether they access via Alan Road or not.

And about Alan Road, this letter and the whole "yes" campaign has been telling some big whoppers to claim that the traffic for these new 25 luxury homes simply would run up and down Alan Road if the bridge were prohibited by the voters. The real truth is that no project ever was approved that would send traffic up Alan Road. That is not a fallback or alternative "project" but is just a tale of fiction and no project at all. Traffic using Alan Road was not approved in the past and will not be any future.

Yes "the community" has a traffic problem. I don't see why the community and its problems should stop someone from exercising their property or development rights. This is a very minor development compared to predecessor tract developments.

The palm tree skirt fire hazard are of course a potential hazard just as groves and stands of natives or introduced Eucalyptus and other vegetation. Unauthorized users or trespassers using this Veronica Meadows property are potential fire ignition sources. Development of this property could mitigate that potential or this red-herring argument for those against this project.

Sometimes the "facts" are just slippery opinions. My opinion is still to vote Yes on Y. And good news; the city just approved taking over Highway 225 and so a developer installed signal may even help out Elings Park access. Sometimes it pays to hold onto your mail-in- absentee ballot as new information often comes out at the last minute.

"The palm tree skirt fire hazard are of course a potential hazard just as groves and stands of natives or introduced Eucalyptus and other vegetation. Unauthorized users or trespassers using this Veronica Meadows property are potential fire ignition sources. "- Don McDermott

when I first came to SB in the 70s the city's palm trees weren't trimmed so closely as they are now and I did like that look much better than the Sterile,Shaved looking things they are now. Just an opinion. I like my palm trees a bit shaggy/natural looking.